The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-09-24

so believe and accept would suffer, in
the life to come, some kind of punish
ment as lasting as immortality.
These doctrines embraced the four
cardinal centers of religious thought:
God, man, duty and destiny. They
formed complete system of belief,
around which clustered all the theology
and ethics of the dominant churches
for centuries. The awful thoughts sug-
gested by these doctrines, were written
in the creeds of the churches, came
laundering from their pulpits, were
borne to the heart on the melody of
song, and grew into the very life and
being of both ministry and laymen.
These doctrines constituted old ortho-
doxy, because they were taught and be-
lieved by and with the sanction of the
authorities of the church. When we
consider that these doctrines are relics
of the most crude paganism, and re-
member the dark gloom which pervad-
ed the church when they were most
generally believed; when we realize
how the inconsistent idea of three Gods
in one has erected barrier between
human reason and the altar of devotion;
how the doctrine of inherited depravity
has paralyzed the energies of the soul;
how the thought of an innocent Christ
dying in the place of guilty sinners, to
appease the wrath of God, has shocked
our every sense of justice; and how a
belief in endless punishment has made
life gloomy and the thought of heaven
sad, then do we demand
New Orthodoxy.
When semi-pagan priests voted the
doctrines of orthodoxy into the church,
earnest and devout Christians protested;
but they were in the minority, and the
church as body decided that such Chris
tians were heretics, and the traditions Of
men thus brought into the church, like
cloud at twilight, settled down into the
gloomy night of the dark ages; but all
through that dark night men of God
held up the light Of his love and pro-
nounced the dogmas of the church false,
and they too were heretics. Ever since
the dawn of the Reformation, such her
etics have multiplied until now their
name is legion. All this time they
have demanded new orthodoxy; and
that demand has come with such power
and from so many sources that many
wise and good people have almost per-
suaded themselves that we have obtain
ed a new orthodoxy; that it has already
come, and that its blessings are going
out from pulpits everywhere.
Such, however, is not the case. In
coming to the conclusion that there is
new orthodoxy, its friends have wholly
overlooked the first law of progress,
that the old is done away when the new
comes. Old orthodoxy was seeing in
part, and the new orthodoxy, when it
comes, will be more perfect light;
and "when that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall
be done away" When the new comes
it displaces the old; and if the old be
not displaced, then the new has not
come. Old orthodoxy is here. 1t re-
mains unto this day, and is in posses
sion of the offices of the churches, and
has the custody of the books, papers
and funds pertaining thereto. 1t has
surrendered nothing which character
lied it as orthodoxy. Its creeds remain
unchanged, and those who deny the
creeds are as really heretics as they
were a century ago. Let us remember
that orthodoxy is not determined by
the sentiment of the individuals, but by
the authoritative utterances Of the
church in its organized capacity.
There can be no other definition of
orthodoxy, because there can be no
other standard of religious belief than
that which the church in its organ
lied capacity has established.
We recognize the fact that bold the
ologians within the church, are trying
to restate its doctrines, so as to accom-
modate orthodoxy to the sentiments of
the soul growing up in every avenue of
life. We know how the literature of
the age is teeming with doctrines con-
tradicting every feature Of old ortho-
doxy; we know how the civil institu-
tions of our country have fostered the
spirit of religious freedom, until every
man is both priest and king and we
also know how those churches, which
were never orthodox, have reared their
affairs in every valley, and planted their
banners upon the hill-tops, while their
ministry from street corner, school
house, courthouse and pulpit, have
proclaimed that there was one God, one
duty, and one destiny, until millions of
hearts were filled with the music of
love. In the face of all this what
have the orthodox churches, in their
organized capacity, done toward the e.
tablishment of any new orthodoxy a?
The Evangelical Alliance, the only
authorized representative of orthodox
churches in their organized capacity, as